Opinion: GOP's Immigration Epiphany

11/13/2012 2:15PM

National Foundation for American Policy president Stuart Anderson on how much President Obama's deferred action plan on immigration helped him among Republicans and the GOP's evolution on immigration after their shellacking. Photo: Getty Images

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... next to discuss Republicans and Hispanic voters Stuart Anderson ... of the National Foundation for American Policy welcomes your ... thank you Jason ... so Stuart as you know awesome a month of the morning of the Republican party for some time ... about this demographic ... of these demographic changes happening in concert to play with respect ... to Latino ALM ... so would ask is it just me or in the wake of of last week's results do aam ... a few more Republicans and conservatives seem to be seeing the light on this ... I'd I think you're right and I think the warnings been coming for awhile ... I think what's happened is ... George Bush got approximately forty to forty four percent of the Latino vote ... may Romney just got about twenty seven percent ... of the Latino vote ... and the percentage of the electorate that is just an ache has gone from eight percent to ten percent ... of all were of ... over the last eight years and that percentage has been a curtain increasingly go up ... so you know do you want to get a decreasing percentage of an increase in part of the electorate the answer for any political party is obviously now ... know store polls show that Hispanics like most voters care most about the economy ... so ... but do we still have the evidence that the immigration issue is hurting ... the GOP with respect to this moonwalk ... yes there is a very interesting fall by a Latino decisions done in the village in the election and actually listed ... the economy first as you said that the second ... issue ... of listed prominently was immigration ... and addition asked about the immigration stances of both Mitt Romney and ... Brock Obama ... and Mitt Romney stands made me of what he knows ... fifty eight percent less likely to vote for him ... and Obama Pres Obama stance may then fifty seven percent more likely to vote for him ... and is you more and ... earlier the sheer ... that prison Obama is up policy on giving ... illegal status at least temporarily for people who are eligible for the dream Act that younger people who come in with their parents ... ahh was a was very popular ... a decision with Latino voters ... okay no when argue that Iran will have the highest hill in the low skill levels to work um ... aam are are are are ... are helpful are instrumental ... are key to U S economic growth ... in many ways and I know you just put out ... a paper ... on on immigration restrictions ... and the needs of health care workers in this country can you talk a little bit about the problem ... and how you think it might be best addressed by our lawmakers ... well yes isn't a great point guard Jason that Ned now that we've seen the election ... aam ... B of Obamacare were of the Affordable Care Act is is not going away ... which means potentially up to thirty million more people getting health insurance and and in line for more medical services ... in addition to the aging contemplation we simply don't have a system in place for her for doctors for nurse is for physical therapists ... to be able to integrate the eye doctor ... of could could we not many many years before they be eligible for a green card only about thirty per state three-year are allowed to get green cards ... nurses can even work in the country except for maybe from Canada ... aam ... for up to five or six years as a way for green card to come into the country ... and physical therapists have to go through three or four years of licensing ... so as the health implications in terms of longer waits ... for infections in hospitals and you don't have enough nurses ... on an IBM of the appointments of for for for rehabilitation or for doctors is is quite serious ... ok and so some of the policy recommendation Jamaican the paper and food ... the streamlining the process for instance for their lives in the red tape that's involved ... and in licensing these for these for now ... oh it's incredible that so there are set to go through and it's really about three or four year process between exams and licensing ... offer nurses have had quite a bit of a procedural ... hurdles the politicians are resetting with really no temporary visa category that works for the vast majority ... and for doctors the half to go through many many hoops ... I've that it's it's almost impossible for Dr was working abroad to just come into the leftist are being a doctor they have to go through ... the residency training ... and then they likely to stay or have to go to some underserved part of the United States and then maybe were five or seven years ... before they could appeal to the green card to stay here so we basically decided to make it as hard as possible ... for someone who wants to ... to help serve patients in the Pakistani closed or are you getting any indication any signal that some of these perfectionist ... Republican lawmakers in Congress and the House of the sun and I'm talking about ... guys like like Lamar Smith of Texas atop Grassley ... of Iowa while is a longtime opponent of the high skilled ... immigration ... aam are they coming around are they making Neten noises that they're finally willing ... to compromise on this issue ... well my high skill we have seen some some move men in a house in the May CNN did another bill brought up again ... that would move somewhat forward on onthe on the green car prices some likely ... probably that it would pass ... the Senate the sheer ... awe as far as the broader sure what to do about on on the lower skill aspect aam ... you know I think that really mean to be seen what the proposal is but ... unfortunately I still aspects such as health care and high-tech ... have really been held hostage to a broader bill ... on illegal immigration in India with the illegal immigration so I think what we need to see is a Aswan ... is it possible to solve one problem at the time read and trying to solve everything or two ... if we do try to solve everything it at that time will something actually fine with us ... ok aam Coelho more times I wanted ask you about from ... Amnesty which is the word ... acts the home ... has been try out there a lot ... since the election ... the Conservatives have to depend on amnesty ... one other things I'm concerned about is this idea that amnesty is some silver bullet for Spalding ... our immigration problem and we both know ... that that's not the case ... at it you know that we do have to do something about the people in the country illegally ... but the bigger problem is not adding to the population going forward and that means right expanding legal wins for coming and for the creamy is to allow ... workers at the Lorain to be overcome it and work legally in the United States that ... would prevent over three hundred to four hundred deaths every year from people trying to come in ... from across the border ... aam because there isn't a legal way for them to comment ... and ... I would also allow market mechanisms that reduce illegal entry far